BRITAIN’S STAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 June 1940, Page 5

BRITAIN’S STAND

AGAINST VILE INVADER MR DUFF COOPER’S SURVEY. PROBLEM GRAVE BUT SIMPLER THAN IT WAS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. June 19. The Minister of Information, Mr Duff Cooper, in a broadcast said that in the great battle in which the French had been defeated the armies of France fought with great heroism and suffered terrible losses. Whatever the terms of the armistice which France had demanded. the French people would not allow themselves to be. reduced permanently to a state of slavery. The blow to Britain was great and her problem henceforth was a grave one. But it was also a more simple one. The front had been considerably reduced. Bombardment and invasion of this country would be the next phase of the war. "We shall feel confident that the people of this island will be able to defend it against ail the might and malice of Germany. ’

They would be fighting with their back to the wall, but it was a very substantial wall, namely, the Atlantic Ocean. On the other side of that ocean Canada was throwing herself heart and soul into the task of producing armaments and training men. SUPPLIES FROM AMERICA. There was also the United States, the greatest source of supply in the world. “The Government and people of that country are our friends,” Mr Cooper continued. “We have it from their own President that they are redoubling their efforts to provide us with all the means we desire for the prosecution of the war. “South of the United States lies a series of American republics closely bound to the United States in policy and well disposed toward Britainproductive, fruitful countries. We have, therefore, behind us an inexhaustible source of supply which has been generously placed at our disposal. We have only to meat off the invader for a few months and our supplies will begin to increase as rapidly as his diminish. “We know he risked (all in this great effort to obtain a swift victory. We know he cannot face a long war. We can face it and we will face it in confidence.” The fact that they were now all within the’fortress, said Mr Duff Cooped, was a further advantage. Pointing out that this was not the first time Britain had been threatened with invasion from a powerful foe, he recalled the destruction of the great Spanish armada by a relatively tiny English fleet. He proceeded to declaim with much dramatic effect the famous lines of Macaulay, in which this victory is celebrated. Today, he concluded, as in the past they would wipe out the vile invader. DEFENCE AREA 20-MILE BELT ESTABLISHED. LONDON, June 19. The Ministry of Home Security, which previously warned civilians voluntarily to avoid the area, has now established a defence area along the coast from The Wash to Rye, extending 20 miles inland, from which all unauthorised persons will be excluded.